Shell



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B. B. HILL.

-SHELL No. 316,970. Patented May 5, 1885. l

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UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

BARTON BERKLEY HILL, OF LOWELL, MASSACHUSETTS.

SHELL..

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 316,970, dated May 5,1885.

Application tiled December 12, 1884.

To all whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, BARTON BEEKLEY HILL, of Lowell, in the county ofMiddlesex, of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a newanduseful Improvement in Explosive Proj ectiles; and I do hereby declarethe same to be described in the following specification and representedin the accompanying drawings, ofwhich- Figure l is a longitudinalsection, and Fig. 2 a side view, of a shell provided with my invention,the nature of which is defined in the claims hereinafter presented.

The object of my invention is to enable dynamite or other explosivematerial of like character to be used in a projectile to be dischargedfrom a gun or cannon.

In the drawings, A denotes the body of a shell pointed at its front end,and having at its rear a sabot, B, between which and the screw-cap O ofthe body is a cushion, D, of felt or other proper elasticor yieldingmaterial, the said sabot and cushion being held to the screw-cap byscrew-bolts a, and nuts b arranged with them, as represented. The twoscrew-bolts prevent the sabot and cushion from revolving independentlyof the shellbody. When the explosion of the gun or cannon powder-loadtakes place, the sabot will be driven toward the shellbody, and inconsequence thereof the cushion will be compressed horizontally and beextended radially, so as to be forced rmly against the bore of the gunor into theriflings thereof, ifthe bore of thepiece may be rifled.

Within the body of the shell,and concentric therewith, is a dynamitecartridge, E, which is surrounded on all sides and at its rear and frontends by a cushion or stuffing, F, of cotton or other proper elastic oryielding substance, to insulate the cartridge from the body of the shellin a manner to prevent explosion of the cartridge, either by accidentalfalling of the shell or while the shell is being discharged from agun,by the explosion of the powder charge of such gun.

From the cartridge at its front end atube,

(No model.)

c, projects, and receives another tube, d, fixed in the body of theshell, and extending from a chamber, h, in such body at its front end.On

cap, e, and there is in the mouth of the chamber h a plug, f, thatprojects beyond the body f and is held in the chamber by a pin, g, thatgoes through the plug and rests against the end ofthe shell.

On the shell being in flight and striking point foremost against anobject, the plug will be driven backward into the chamber and againstthe percussion-cap, which by the impact of the plug will be exploded,and fire from it will be driven into the cartridge to explode it.

It is essential to have the tube cernpty,and to slide either on orwithin the fixed tube d, in order that'the cartridge may move endwisemore or less in its surrounding cushion or elastic insulator.

I claiml. The combination of the shell-body provided wth the chamber inits front end, the plug arranged therein, and the primer-tube extendingfrom such chamber into the chargechamber of the body, with the cartridgeprovided at its front end with a tube to enter or slide on theprimer-tube, and surrounded by a cushion oryielding stuffing, all beingsubstantially as set forth. f

2. The explosive projectile or shell-body provided at its rear end withthe sabot or cushion, as described, and at its front end with a chamber,a firing-plug, anda priming-tube, as

explained, in combination with a cartridge arranged within the saidbody, and provided not only with a tube to enter and slide on thepriming-tube, but with a cushion or yielding stuffing extending aroundand in front and in rear of it, the said cartridge, all beingsubstantially as represented.

BARTON BERKLEY HILL.

Witnesses: R. H. EDDY,

ERNEsr B. PRATT.

50 the outer end of the tube d is a percussion-

